Monday, January 28, 2008

Recipes!

I cooked like a lunatic this weekend for the party but the good news is - all of these things I am about to tell you about are pretty easy and PERFECT to make a few days in advance. When we have people over, I actually want to hang out with them so while serving great food is a yes, slaving away that night in the kitchen is a big NO!

My first recipe here is for spinach dip. I kind of made it up myself trying to make it like "Houston's" (a restaurant we loved in DC). It really doesn't taste like Houston's but it has morphed into something we all really like, I make it every time we have people over. I bring it with me whenever I am invited somewhere. It always goes completely so I am guessing others like it too :) Sorry I don't have a pic or exact measurements but I will give you the recipe roughly be warned though, it's full of delicious dairy calories and therefore incredible!

I make this whole thing in a nonstick frying pan right on the stove top. Melt the butter first and add the chopped onion (about 10 min). Really squeeze all water from the spinach and add to the onions in the pan. Continue to cook and incorporate about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper (be generous with the salt - you may have to keep tasting it b/c spinach really absorbs it for some reason) Add the heavy cream and heat through and just put your swiss cheese right on top and continue to stir until melted and soupy. You want it soupy, but not too soupy. You don't want it too dry either b/c it will break the chips when you go to dip. If it gets too thick, add a little more cream to thin it out. Totally delicious served with tortilla chips. My personal favorite are these:

Bring this to your Super Bowl party or this is a good one too (just use a rotisserie chicken if you would like to save time)